A HINT OF THINGS TO COME

Dearest Friends,

I almost forgot!  There's one more little fete I should probably tell you about, before we board that plane -- the going away pool party that my boss at Chez Vous gave for me.  Not that it's any more important than all the others.  Just that it provides a bit of background for events to come.

You see, I worked with this one girl whom we shall call Aerobics Queen.  She had the personality type I refer to as "the perpetual cheerleader."  She was cute and perky and could be a lot of fun to be around, but she really liked being the center of attention.  In fact, it was more than a like.  It was a need. A need to be adored.  She actually was a cheerleader in high school, but now, in addition to working evening and weekend catering gigs, where she loved to flirt with our cute French chef while her engineer hubby took care of their two babies at home, she taught a bazillian aerobics classes at the Y, since her kids could stay in the nursery there for free while she taught.

Anyhoo, at the time of my going away party, AQ was pregnant with her third child, and I don't think her oldest was even four yet.  She loved being pregnant more than anyone I had ever met.  She just ate it up when people went on and on about the fact that she was still teaching aerobics right up to the very end, and telling her what amazing shape she was in.  It was just that bit about taking care of the kids after they were born that she was none too crazy about.  So, at this party, I got the feeling that AQ must not have been getting her due attention, because it wasn't long before she started making funny little noises and rubbing her belly.  She said she thought she might be having contractions.  Not enough of a concern to necessitate leaving the party mind you.  Just enough for her to feel she needed to go lie down in the master bedroom, and have everyone hover around, giving her back rubs and what-have-you, for the rest of the party.  Of course, the baby didn't come until weeks later, after we were settled in Indonesia.